John Arderne’s Afterlife in Manuscript and Print

doi:10.1017/9781009105347.003

Chapter 2 - John Arderne’s Afterlife in Manuscript and Print

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 October 2022

Edited by

Jeremy J. Smith and

Irma Taavitsainen: Affiliation:
University of Helsinki
Turo Hiltunen: Affiliation:
University of Helsinki
Jeremy J. Smith: Affiliation:
University of Glasgow
Carla Suhr: Affiliation:
University of Helsinki

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Summary

Arderne’s writings retained their popularity in both Latin and English after 1500, showing the artificiality of the supposed division between medieval and early modern. This chapter investigates surviving manuscripts made in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, commissioned or owned by practising surgeons and medics, rather than by university teachers or scholars. These manuscripts were heavily illustrated within or alongside the text-block, reinforcing the textual bias towards visualisation and personal witness. As case studies, the chapter will also consider the single printing (1588) of Arderne’s writings on fistula in ano, edited by the barber surgeon John Read, and a manuscript owned c.1645–8 by the ship’s surgeon Walter Hamond, who reflected on the continued usefulness of Arderne’s surgical techniques and recipes, suggested some improvements, and also commented on the financial charges Arderne made for his services and their contemporary equivalents.

Keywords

John Arderne fistula in ano surgical writing early modern medical manuscripts early printed medical texts textual transmission

Type: Chapter
Information: Genre in English Medical Writing, 1500–1820
Sociocultural Contexts of Production and Use
, pp. 13 - 31

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009105347.003 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2022

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Book contents

Chapter 2 - John Arderne’s Afterlife in Manuscript and Print

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Keywords

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References

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